Yeah, it's me again, but this time you are in the right place.
Did the starter die from trying to revive a 47 year old corpse, or was it already bad when you got the car?
The bad news is that there is no 12V starter off of anything that will work on a stock Buick straight 8. The good news is that this isn't as bad as it sounds.
Most people just run the original 6V starter on 12V and it works fine. That's what I have on mine. For normal starting duty it will last practically forever, except that you will eventually have to replace the solenoid with a 12V one. However, this probably isn't a good choice for trying to start an engine that has sat for 47 years and has already killed one starter. Any rebuilder can assemble a 12V version of the straight 8 starter, but I can understand you not wanting to spend the money if you don't know whether the engine is any good.
Let me state the obvious first, just in case it isn't obvious. If the car has a manual transmission, your problem is solved. Just push or tow it and you can crank the engine for as long as you need to. Theoretically, this is possible with a Dynaflow too, but a Dynaflow that has sat for 47 years could very well be in worse shape than the engine. In fact, a bad Dynaflow could be the reason why the car was parked 47 years ago. However, even with a Dynaflow I think I would still try towing the car just to see what happens. You really haven't got that much to lose. Before attempting this, don't forget to check the oil level in the both the engine and the Dynaflow.
Hopefully, you won't try to start the car on 47 year old gasoline. Rig up a temporary can in the engine compartment and run a hose from the can to the inlet side of the fuel pump. For the first try, disconnect the metal line from the carb inlet and crank the engine just long enough to pump out whatever glop is in the line. Old Buicks are good for this because you can take off the hood and see what is happening with the engine from behind the wheel. Leave the ignition switch off for this first test so you don't start a fire. In a perfect world, you would clean the gorp out of the carb too. I am just throwing that out as a suggestion.
Once you are getting fresh fuel to the carb, reconnect the line and you can try starting the engine in earnest. Whether it starts or not, check for oil pressure and discontinue cranking if no pressure or if you hear any really bad noises coming out of the engine.
If you have a Dynaflow and it really won't crank the engine, pull the starter out, open it up, and post back here describing what you see inside it. It might be an easy fix, because you can still get normal wear parts like brushes and bushings and they don't cost very much. If the commutator is badly burned or if you find little blobs of melted solder in the case, you can save it with an armature from a different starter as long as your drive housing is still serviceable. This is what the rebuilders do when they get a really bad one in.
Ray
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